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Friulian phonology
Consonants Notes: * are bilabial, whereas are labiodental and is labiovelar. * Note that, in the standard language, a phonemic distinction exists between true palatal stops and palatoalveolar affricates . The former (written ) originate from Latin before , whereas the latter (written , where is found before and , and is found elsewhere) originate primarily from Latin before and . The palatalization of Latin and before is characteristic of the Rhaeto-Romance languages and is also found in French and some Occitan varieties. In some Friulian dialects (e.g. Western dialects), corresponding to Central are found . Note in addition that, due to various sound changes, these sounds are all now phonemic; note, for example, the minimal pair "drunk" vs. "log". Vowels Orthography Some notes on orthography (from the perspective of the standard, i.e. Central, dialect): * Long vowels are indicated with a circumflex: . * is used for both (which only occurs in stressed syllables) and ; similarly, is used for both and . * is spelled word-initially, and elsewhere. * occurs primarily in diphthongs, and is spelled . * is normally spelled , but is spelled between vowels (in this context, a single is pronounced ). * is spelled , which can also occur word-finally. * is an allophone of , found word-finally, before word-final ''-s'', and often in the prefix in-''. Both sounds are spelled . * is normally spelled , but before and , as in Italian. * is normally spelled , but before and , again as in Italian. * The palatal stops are spelled . Note that in some dialects, these sounds are pronounced , as described above. * is spelled before and , elsewhere. Note that in some dialects, this sound is pronounced . * is spelled . Note that in some dialects, this sound is pronounced . * can also represent or in certain words (e.g. ''nazion "nation", lezion "lesson"). * is silent. * is no longer used except in the traditional spelling of certain proper names; similarly for before and . Long vowels and their origin Long vowels are typical of the Friulian language and greatly influence the Friulian pronunciation of Italian. Friulian distinguishes between short and long vowels: in the following minimal pairs (long vowels are marked in the official orthography with a circumflex accent): : lat (milk) : lât (gone) : fis (fixed, dense) : fîs (sons) : lus (luxury) : lûs (light n.) Friulian dialects differ in their treatment of long vowels. In certain dialects, some of the long vowels are actually diphthongs. The following chart shows how six words (sêt thirst, pît foot, fîl "wire", pôc (a) little, fûc fire, mûr "wall") are pronounced in four dialects. Each dialect uses a unique pattern of diphthongs (yellow) and monophthongs (blue) for the long vowels: Note that the vowels î'' and ''û in the standard language (based on the Central dialects) correspond to two different sounds in the Western dialects (including Codroipo). These sounds are not distributed randomly but correspond to different origins: Latin short in an open syllable produces Western but Central , whereas Latin long produces in both dialects. Similarly, Latin short in an open syllable produces Western but Central , whereas Latin long produces in both dialects. The word mûr, for example, means both "wall" (Latin ) and "(he, she, it) dies" (Vulgar Latin * from Latin ); both words are pronounced in Central dialects, but respectively and in Western dialects. Long consonants (ll, rr, and so on), frequently used in Italian, are usually absent in Friulian. Friulian long vowels originate primarily from vowel lengthening in stressed open syllables when the following vowel was lost. Friulian vowel length has no relation to vowel length in Classical Latin. For example, Latin yields vâl "it is worth" with a long vowel, but Latin yields val "valley" with a short vowel. Long vowels aren't found when the following vowel is preserved, e.g.: * before final -e < Latin , cf. short nuve "new (fem. sg.)" < Latin vs. long nûf "new (masc. sg.)" < Latin ; * before a non-final preserved vowel, cf. tivit /ˈtivit/ "tepid, lukewarm" < Latin , zinar /ˈzinar/ "son-in-law" < Latin , ridi /ˈridi/ "to laugh" < Vulgar Latin (Classical ). It is quite possible that vowel lengthening occurred originally in all stressed open syllables, and was later lost in non-final syllables. Evidence of this is found, for example, in the divergent outcome of Vulgar Latin , which becomes in originally closed syllables but in Central Friulian in originally open syllables, including when non-finally. Examples: siet "seven" < Vulgar Latin < Latin , word-final pît "foot" < Vulgar Latin < Latin , non-word-final tivit "tepid, lukewarm" < Vulgar Latin < Latin . An additional source of vowel length is compensatory lengthening before lost consonants in certain circumstances, cf. pâri "father" < Latin , vôli "eye" < Latin , lîre "pound" < Latin . This produces long vowels in non-final syllables, and was apparently a separate, later development than the primary lengthening in open syllables. Note, for example, the development of Vulgar Latin in this context: > > iê , as in piêre "stone" < Latin , differing from the outcome in originally open syllables (see above). Additional complications: * Central Friulian has lengthening before /r/ even in originally closed syllables, cf. cjâr /caːr/ "cart" < Latin (homophonous with cjâr "dear (masc. sg.)" < Latin ). This represents a late, secondary development, and some conservative dialects have the expected length distinction here. * Lengthening doesn't occur before nasal consonants even in originally open syllables, cf. pan /paŋ/ "bread" < Latin , prin /priŋ/ "first" < Latin . * Special developments produced absolutely word-final long vowels and length distinctions, cf. fi "fig" < Latin vs. fî "son" < Latin , no "no" < Latin vs. nô "we" < Latin . Synchronic analyses of vowel length in Friulian often claim that it occurs predictably in final syllables before an underlying voiced obstruent, which is then devoiced. Analyses of this sort have difficulty with long-vowel contrasts that occur non-finally (e.g. pâri "father" mentioned above) or not in front of obstruents (e.g. fi "fig" vs. fî "son", val "valley" vs. vâl "it is worth"). References External links * Category:Language phonologies